Newsletters
Former U.S. National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent said Thursday that leaving NATO would not be about avoiding foreign entanglements but about siding with Israel in a potential future clash with Türkiye in Syria.
His remarks came as debate continued over U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to reconsider Washington’s place in the alliance.
In a post on social media, Kent said the United States would be leaving NATO so it could side with Israel when Türkiye and Israel eventually clash in Syria.
"Unfortunately, leaving NATO won't be to avoid foreign entanglements, we'll be leaving NATO so we can side with Israel when Türkiye & Israel eventually clash in Syria," Kent wrote.
He added, "This is after we helped topple the secular Syrian government and installed a former AQ/ISIS leader as president. Time to stop playing arsonist and fireman in the Middle East, it's just not worth it."
Kent's remarks directly connected the NATO debate to Syria and to a possible future confrontation involving Türkiye and Israel.
In his statement, he said a U.S. departure from NATO would not be driven by a desire to stay out of foreign conflicts.
Instead, he said it would be tied to aligning with Israel if Türkiye and Israel eventually clash in Syria.
He also referred to the fall of Syria's secular government and said the United States had helped install what he described as a former al-Qaeda and ISIS leader as president.
Kent ended his post by saying it was time to stop playing both arsonist and fireman in the Middle East.
Kent's statement came after Trump said he was "strongly considering" pulling the United States out of NATO after allied countries refused to support the American-Israeli war on Iran.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Trump called NATO a "paper tiger."
His statement was described as the most direct threat yet to the 77-year-old transatlantic defense pact and as an escalation from frustration over basing rights into an existential crisis for the alliance.
Asked whether he would reconsider U.S. membership in NATO after the conflict, Trump replied, "Oh yes, I would say it's beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way."
Joe Kent served for about 20 years in the U.S. military before later working within the CIA. During Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, he served as Trump's counterterrorism adviser and developed close ties with him.
Kent ran for Congress twice in 2022 but was not elected. In 2025, Trump appointed him director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Kent's resignation after the start of the Iran war drew attention. His wife, a cryptologist serving in the U.S. Navy, was killed in 2019 during an operation against ISIS in Syria.
In the resignation letter he published on social media, Kent said that early in the administration, senior Israeli officials and influential members of the American media had carried out a disinformation campaign that undermined Trump's "America First" platform and promoted war with Iran.
He said that the campaign was used to make Trump believe Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States and that attacking immediately would lead to a quick victory.
Kent said that was a lie and compared it to what he described as the same tactic used by Israelis to drag the United States into the Iraq war, which he said cost thousands of American lives.
"We cannot make this mistake again," he wrote.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
